Schaedler YESCO Culture Creates Happy Workplace

You may remember the famous Philip Drucker phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast”? You’ve also heard that people leave bosses. Further, bosses are the ones that drive the culture of a company.

So, if you want the best people, you must have a strong culture. And if you want to recruit the best people you need to

• Be known in your market as an employer of choice … a place where your associates are happy (which can be for many reasons).
• Have an environment where your staff is an asset in the recruiting process, and
• Have an environment that, when people come to visit for an interview (yes, this was the BC days – Before COVID), the recruit “feels” an environment where they can prosper.

In fact, this is so important to recruiting the right people that GRN Coastal, in a 2019 study, found that culture is one of the two reasons why people leave companies (and conversely, why they are attracted to a company.)

Further, culture enables companies to retain their staff as well as maximize profitability … and typically at reasonable compensation levels … because people feel valued and want to work there.

It takes work for this to occur. A dedicated management team that buys into, and sells, senior management’s vision.

One company that traditionally is very strong in this area, and is recognized for its culture by its state, is Schaedler YESCO.  Schaedler YESCO was recently recognized as the 17^th Best Place to Work in Pennsylvania. To give you a sense of how high they rate, according to Data Axle (formerly InfoUSA), there are 2,258 companies and subsidiaries with more than 10 employees based in Pennsylvania, so Schaedler YESCO is in the top .75%!

According to the press release:

“Schaedler Yesco Distribution, Inc. has been named 17th in the Best Places to Work in PA, an

annual award program designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best places of employment in

Pennsylvania, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce, and businesses. This is the tenth year in a row and fourteenth time overall that Schaedler Yesco has won the esteemed award.

“We are very proud to once again be among the Best Places to Work in PA,” President, Farrah Mittel said. “While the ranking is something we cheer about, our participation’s real benefit is the survey data we collect. We scrutinize the results to understand where we can improve and truly be a place where our staff can Work Hard and Go Home Happy.”

“The feedback we receive from this program survey is invaluable!” added Greg Schaedler, Vice President. “We have been intentional about making sure our people are happy, healthy, and enjoy coming to work. We believe that excellent business outcomes start with happy employees and are supported by strong company values and processes. Because of this focus, our teams are engaged and eager to help our customers succeed.”

Employers are categorized based upon the total number of employees they have in the United States, 15 to 99 employees, 100 to 250 employees, or more than 250 employees.

Companies from across the state entered the two‐part process to determine the 100 Best Places to Work in PA. The first part of this process was evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophies, systems, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process.”

(And do you think the employees from the two Rexel locations that Schaedler YESCO acquired this past summer are happy?)

Culture Questions

This then begs the questions of:

• How much attention do you pay to your culture?
• As leadership of your company, could you define your culture? Not what you want it to be, but what it is today?
• And, depending upon what it is, in the eyes of your customers (your associates), is it what you want it to be?
• Can you define what you want it to be?
• Are you willing to do the work to get it to what you want it to be?
• Do you know how to get there?

Elements of culture also get into what is the vision for your company? What are the values you want your company to have? Are you willing to put it into writing and actively work to it?

Leadership can have a vision but middle management must buy into it AND sell it to your staff (and sometimes different departments have different cultures and motivators so it is important to adapt). Remember what customers are interested in … WIIFM. Some of your staff think this way, which is okay, because not everyone needs to be a chief or wants to be the self-starter future leader. Doers are needed (think Nike … “Just Do It”.)

Culture differentiates a company to its associates, to prospective associates, to customers, to suppliers and adds profit dollars on the bottom line.

Congratulations to Schaedler YESCO, a fourth-generation independent electrical distributor (which is becoming rarer in itself).

If you believe culture is important and feel you could benefit from a third-party perspective, give us a call. Over the years we have worked with companies on vision, mission, value, culture and organizational assessment and development. Your staff should be your best sales and marketing tool.